New NAACP president to visit Scotland County

RALEIGH —The newly elected president of the North Carolina NAACP will speak later this month at the annual Freedom Fund Banquet.

The Rev. T. Anthony Spearman is the featured speaker for the dinner that helps raise money to support the work of the Scotland County Branch of the NAACP.

The banquet will be held Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. at Bright Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Laurinburg. Tickets are $25.

Herman Tyson, president of the Scotland NAACP, described Spearman as a dynamic leader and said he looked forward to his visit to Laurinburg.

“Dr. Spearman is a long-time advocate for social justice and a key leader in the Moral Monday and Forward Together Movement that has brought national attention to many of the changes we are trying to bring to North Carolina,” Tyson said. “Scotland is fortunate that we will be one of the first engagements for the new president to share his vision.”

Spearman was elected Saturday at the 74th annual N.C. NAACP Convention in Raleigh that also included talks by New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and journalist Roland Martin.

He replaces Bishop William Barber, who stepped down after 12 years as president. Barber plans to work in Washington, DC with the Poor People’s Campaign, but will continue to serve as president emeritus of the NAACP.

Spearman said he hopes to build on the work of his predecesor.

“My ideology is very, very similar to the ideology of Bishop Barber, and what the NAACP lifts up as what they call ‘game-changers’” Spearman said in his campaign for president. “When we talk about pro-labor, anti-poverty policies that ensure economic sustainability, and educational equality … and health care, and fairness in the criminal justice system, and protection of all kinds of rights – voting rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, immigrant rights … all of those are right at the cutting edge of the things we need to continue in terms of having the kind of ideology that’s going to help us to make some ground so that we can continue to move forward together and not take one step back.”

Spearman, a third vice president of the N.C .NAACP, has been a member of the organization for 53 years. During that time, the 66-year-old has also served as chairman of the N.C. NAACP Religious Affairs Committee, and president of the Hickory Branch of the NAACP.

He is also senior pastor of St. Phillip A.M.E. Zion Church in Greensboro and president of the N.C. Council of Churches.

As a young man, his father got memberships for his sisters and him, telling them to keep them up because “you will be fighting for justice for the remainder of your years.”

Spearman has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Mercy College in Yonkers, N.Y.; a Master of Divinity Degree from Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury; and a Doctor of Ministry from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton Ohio.